Can my employer lower my piece work rate just after giving us our annual wage rise?

Question

We were given the wage rise on our basic pay and on all of our bonus rates, then a few weeks later they have reduced our piece work rates as they said that they were set too high last year.

Answer 1

I don't understand the term "piece work" - am I correct in thinking that you're paid a basic salary, plus an additional payment for every piece of work that you complete?

Whatever, it doesn't really matter.  An employer can always reduce your wage if they wish, provided that:

- You're still getting paid at least minimum wage or equivalent

- You agree to it!  Now, this might sound stupid because who would agree to a reduction in wages?  But, it constitutes a change to the terms and conditions of your employment and as long as they give you the appropriate notice in writing, there's nothing you can do.  You can either accept or not, but if not then this would (usually) be classed as redundancy

- You can't argue that the reduction is discriminatory - for example, your wages were reduced and you're the only white person in the team  Everyone else is black and their wages were not reduced

There are also other issues that can be gone into if the reduction was a result of your performance, but it sounds like that's not really relevant to you.